


First Fight

by Hekate1308



Series: Baggage [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 17:26:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11902581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: “Crowley” Dean said, making sure both him and Cas were covered with their blankets, “We have a rule about the bedroom”.





	First Fight

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, it is a series now.

“Oh my, what a sight for sore eyes. You really know what to do with your nights”.

“Crowley” Dean said, making sure both him and Cas were covered with their blankets, “We have a rule about the bedroom”.

They’d learned over many nights spent at the Singers’ that not only had Crowley little need for sleep, he also had no filter at night, and he was always ready to wake someone up in order to talk.

Not that they had been sleeping.

“I know, but I didn’t feel like knocking”.

He rarely did, to tell the truth.

“Crowley” Cas sighed.

“What is it?”

“I...” he trailed off, suddenly unsure. “Never mind”.

Oh God, when he sounded like that, it meant Rowena.

“Go to the living room, I’ll be joining you shortly” Dean promised.

After Crowley had left, he turned to Cas.

“I’ll talk to him”.

“You need help?” he mumbled, clearly half-asleep already.

Dean chuckled at how adorable his boyfriend looked when he was tired.

“Nah. You go to sleep, I’ll be back”.

Because Crowley was being financed by his new rich stepdad who seemed to agree with Rowena on keeping him as far away as possible and all three of them had decided to get a nice apartment off campus.

Cas’ parents, as expected, had shown no interest in their son’s progress at college.

Dean’s...

Well, that was a little more complicated.

Mom had as of late taking a few tentative steps towards trying to understand Dean, who he really was. She’d listened to him during their breaks, when he’d talked about his studies and ambitions, and she’d paid particular attention to Cas, doing her best to show that he was part of the family now.

While it was clear she still didn’t quite get how they had come to this point, Dean wasn’t without hope that one day, she would see and understand.

Dad... Dad, from what Sam had told him, since Dean had admittedly not spoken to him much, had treated them going to college like a joke in the beginning, and even now was nowhere near acknowledging that Dean was off the market and very much in a relationship with Cas – or anything else he’d done in the past one and a half years, to be honest. While he had eventually allowed Crowley into their house for dinner (on Mom’s insistence, Dean was sure) he had done his best to pretend that he was Dean’s friend from Harvard, rather than the best pal he’d kept hidden for years.

Needless to say, they’d spent quite a lot of their time at the Singers’, who were always happy to see them.

Rowena rarely made contact with Crowley, and when she did, the results were usually disastrous, as just shown by him barging in on Dean and Cas during...

Crowley was not in the living room, but the window stood open.

Dean smiled.

It had taken them less than three days to figure out how to get to the roof.

Crowley was sitting down, staring at the sky and smoking.

That alone would have been enough to tell Dean who had called.

Time fit too. Rowena never called at a reasonable hour.

“You alright?” he asked, sitting down next to him.

“Of course”.

Crowley was distracted, slightly confused.

Dean sighed.

“What did she say now?”

Crowley didn’t answer.

“Crowster...” he said, knowing the old nickname would at least get him a reaction.

“You know I swore to skin anyone who used that alive”.

“You wouldn’t dare, I’m one of the two people on this planet you can actually stand.”

“Sad but true”.

Only it wasn’t even remotely true these days. Crowley was even somewhat popular among their peers.

Granted, they had not yet grown out of the stage of “oh my we made it to Harvard hail my brothers-in-arms let us woo the girls and create a world of our own” that Dean sincerely hoped would pass them all by. Know it all bastards, really.

“Crowley, what did she say?”

“The usual. She wouldn’t have to “finance me having a jolly good time” if she hadn’t kept me. No idea why it got to me this time. Maybe I’m getting old”.

Dean remembered something Karen had told them on their last visit.

“You’re used to being treated well now. That’s the difference. Hearing it these days is... jarring”.

“Must be the air around here, you talking this smart psychological crap”.

“It’s not, and you know, and I know you know. And trust me, I’m pretty good when it comes to beating yourself up over something your parents said.”

Crowley chuckled.

“I guess you are”.

He held out his cigarette. Dean accepted the offer.

Everything was alright.

Time went on. Their courses were demanding, but interesting, and Dean didn’t think he’d ever been happier.

He’d only forgotten that what came up must inevitably come down again, and that every couple eventually had their first fight; and moreover, that it was supposed to be the worst.

It wasn’t his fault that he’d never even considered that he and Cas might fight. They had never really been angry at one another.

Annoyed, yeah. But real, blind rage, ready to strike and hurt? Never.

The end of that lucky streak came after several weeks of demanding lessons while still doing their jobs several afternoons a week, after which they’d studied until bedtime and then fallen asleep beside one another too exhausted to utter a word.

And then Dean had forgotten to pick up honey, and Cas, for some reason he’d never understood, never drank his tea without it.

“What am I supposed to drink now?”

“Coffee, like any normal, self-destroying student...”

“Maybe I don’t even want to start unhealthy habits, have you ever thought of that?”

“It’s one coffee for a study session, you’ll be fine!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Yes, I do, Cas, I do it on a regular basis – “

“But my tea – “

“For God’s sake, what’s so important about honey?”

“It’s how I like it, and that’s why it should be important to you – “

“Well it’s not” he snapped, only realizing how it would sound to Cas, who’d been used to being utterly ignored in his own home when his face fell briefly before resuming an angry expression as he bit back, “And if you don’t care you might as well have stayed in Lawrence!”

Dean stumbled back as if he’d hit him.

Cas instantly felt sorry, dashing towards him.

“Dean, I’m so – “

“No” he croaked, “No, forget it, alright? Fine. If you think – I can just go back, you know”.

And with these words he stormed out, right past a confused Crowley who’d apparently realized upon coming home that no one had brought honey and had gone to borrow some from the neighbours so Cas could have his tea, as Dean would learn later.

He just kept walking.

Alright, first chance he had to proof he could make a good considerate adult boyfriend, and he’d blown it. Yeah, Cas had hurt him, but he’d hurt him first by more or less saying he didn’t care that they didn’t have something that never failed to soothe him after a hard day, Cas wouldn’t want him anymore after that day, really, and they’d fall apart and everything else would fall apart, and he’d realize that all this time he’d only been building up a house of cards, and he’d have to go home, tail between his legs, and Dad would laugh and slap his shoulder and he’d end up as a lonely mechanic years from now and –

He was going insane, he was very aware of that.

He quickly made his way to a nearby park, where he and the others liked to hang out when they didn’t have too much to do and the weather was still warm enough.

It wasn’t now, not really, and the sun had already set, but he didn’t care about that now.

He just needed a place to think.

Dean sat down on a park bench and buried his head in his hands.

Alright. This didn’t have to be a big deal. Couples fought all the time. Hell, his parents used to scream at each other now and then, and they were still married. And he was sure even Bobby and Karen disagreed now and then.

Somehow he’d believed he and Cas were the exception though. They had to be, right? They and Crowley had always been the odd ones.

Most of their classmates still couldn’t believe they’d got into Harvard, as Aaron, who still was in contact with some of them, happily let them know from to time.

He sighed.

He should go back and apologize – or should he still be angry at Cas? He’d provoked him, but Cas knew how insecure he still was, and – or was he just being vindictive?

“Story of our lives, it seems. Someone storms out, someone goes after them.”2

“Crowley”.

“Squirrel.”

He sat down.

“Cassie’s asleep. Stayed with him until the exhaustion kicked in. Last few weeks have really done a number on him”.

“I know” he mumbled.

And yet he’d been stupid enough to forget the honey.

“It’s alright; he knows you’ve been stressed too. That’s why I had to listen to him tearfully explaining how your are too good for him and surely half-way back to Kansas by now”.

Dean snorted.

“Alright, maybe it sounded a bit less dramatic, but still. I swear to God, that one worships the ground you walk on.”

Dean was silent.

“Come on, everyone hits rough patches. You know Chris Pratt and Anna Faris already destroyed me, don’t make me lose my other favourite couple”.

“Seriously?”

Crowley shrugged.

“It was the best I could come up with.”

“I just... he’s not the one who got lucky” Dean admitted. “I mean, have you looked at him? And there’s me. Let’s face it, I got into Harvard because of a lucky break – “

“First of all you didn’t – “

“Come on, Crowley. Stop it – “

“I won’t – “

“And even if we don’t talk about that, there’s still the fact that I blew up on him for no reason! How’s that boyfriend material...”

He was talking himself into a frenzy when Crowley casually said, “I was going to kill her.”

“What?”

“By the time I was twelve, I had already decided I would wait until I could legally purchase a gun, and I would put a bullet in my mother’s head” he explained lightly. “And then I’d blow my brains out”.

“Crowley...”

“I didn’t think anything would ever make me change my mind. And then I noticed this boy at my new school. Acted like a joke, but wasn’t. Took me a whole week to figure it out. And I knew I had to get to know him. And I did. And everything changed.”

“Crowley...”

“You are so much more than you think you are, Dean Winchester”.

Before he could repeat his name again, Crowley kissed him. There was nothing sexual or even romantic about it; he wasn’t cheating on Cas; a simple press of the lips to explain that yes, Crowley understood too that he and Dean loved each other in a way they would never be able to make others understand.

Crowley stood up, smiling slightly.

“Come on. Go and make up with the other half of my OTP.”

Cas woke up as he crawled into their bed a short time later.

“Let’s never do that again” he muttered, cuddling up to him.

“Agreed. I’ll buy honey first thing in the morning.”

Cas pressed a gentle kiss against his neck.

**Many years later**

The first words he’d utter during his highly successful political career should probably have been a bit more uplifting and inspirational.

But even if that thought had occurred to Dean at the time, his first reaction to Crowley’s announcement “I’m running for President! Squirrel, Feathers – will you help me save the world?” would still have been to tiredly grumble, “Crowley, we still have a rule about the bedroom”.


End file.
